"Woke up this morning, Texas on my mind..."

Obviously, this Pat Green song has become the theme song for Cody and me lately. Literally, everytime that we depart for the Lone Star State it seems to be the background theme playing constantly in my mind. (Thus the Facebook status posts, blaring of the iPod, etc.) I suppose it's time to expand a little and find a few more Texas-themed tunes to add to the soundtrack...I'll get to work on that stat, although it may be a little late as I'm not sure when the next time we'll grace our homeland with our presence will be, sadly. :( Our goal for the near future is to explore the mid-south and all it has to offer, and I must say I've never been so excited! We've got big plans for the next few weekends, which means lots of blog material (and the family rejoices!). I know you're on the edge of your seat with anticipation for our upcoming adventures, but I don't believe in spoilers. So in the meantime, you'll just have to settle for a recap of our weekend in the big D (and I do mean Dallas), which was so full of fun I'm afraid I'm going to miss some of the very important details!

My good friend Rachel got married the weekend of March 12, and when we learned that the drive to Dallas was only 7 hours, we decided to take full advantage of the opportunity to celebrate with her and her wonderful hubby Joe. The ceremony was absolutely perfect and Rachel was absolutely one of the most gorgeous brides I've ever seen. I was also able to reunite with some great girlfriends from Swift, and had so much fun catching up and seeing them. You should also know that I was the dancing queen and between the moves that Cody and I displayed that night, it's quite surprising that we weren't asked to audition for Usher's next music video. I mean, we were on fire. Luckily, there's no photographic documentation because you'd probably feel really threatened by our mad skills... I did get a few pics of the event though, not to worry!

 Wouldn't have missed this for the world. Love my Rach!

 Absolutely stunning! Pre-ceremony

 Look at my handsome hubby :)

 Mr. and Mrs. Joe Martin

 Miss you girlfriends!

 Come to Tennessee!!!

 Just a glimpse of the mad dance skills exhibited at the reception...

As if partying Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn style at the wedding wasn't fun enough, Cody and I also got to stay with our good friends Wes and Nicole for the weekend, which brought a trip to the Greenville St. Patrick's Day parade on Saturday morning. We had so much fun celebrating our Irish (some of us authentic and others honorary) heritage and enjoying the gorgeous WARM weather. I think I may have even gotten a little sun...for which now I'm completely starving... but that's another story, and another rant, as you know. :) Getting back to the parade though--it was wonderful to see old friends from high school, including my college roomie, Carrie. We also got the chance to meet some of Wes and Nicole's awesome Dallas friends who I had so much fun getting to know (shout out to Jodee, you're awesome girl!) After a quick breakfast with Carrie in Arlington, we headed to Boyd/Decatur to visit with Uncle Brian, Aunt Stacey, and Karsyn. I was super excited to spend some extra time with them, and even got to feast on some tasty homemade chocolate chip cookies--which we all know are a total luxury to me because of the mere fact that my crazy husband refuses to eat chocolate and there's no point in making a huge batch of these from scratch for myself (or is there?). Obviously, it was a fun and busy weekend filled with so many activities! I must say I also enjoyed the bonding time with my hubs that came from 14 hours on the road. Sometimes you just need that kind of togetherness, filled with old school rap CD's and Texas Country music.

Here's a few pictures for your viewing pleasure, then I promise I'll wrap up this novel for the evening...

 Love this girl!

 Wes and Nicole--fabulous hosts, and can't wait for their wedding!

 My roo! Caroliiiiiine

 Alejandro/Roberto we miss you!

 Hey boys...Cody's an honorary WC alum for this one.

 Amazing girls :)

 Showing a little Irish spirit. Note the sweet belt.

 Jodee! Love this girl.

 Miss Karsyn, post lip gloss sampling and Cheeto eating. This girl has my heart!!

Being fabulous clearly runs in the family...

Now get pumped because you're about to see a lot of blog action in the next few weeks, and this time I mean business. :)